Return of the Trio
by Twilin Dreamaren
Summary: The Night Dimension is rebuilding itself after its collapse due to Wizeman being defeated. A new but familiar dreamer is now discovering Nightopia for herself, just as a newly awakened nightmaren is taking her first glides in Nightopia, hoping to learn more about the vague memories she started with.
1. Chapter 1: Finding the Dream World

A/N: This is a slightly updated version. I think I've made little changes with the story, but I probably just fixed some typos. Enjoy!

* * *

All was silent in the Night Dimension ever since Wizeman was defeated, but soon, Nightmare and Nightopia began to reform and some of its original content, nearly lost before the tyrant's defeat, returned. Nearly destroyed locations, like the Nightmare Plaza, rejuvenated. The old castles of each realm returned with their inhabitants, and Nightopia and Nightmare were equal in strength, size, and power. As the World of Dreams began its recuperation, a new, but familiar dreamer started her journey into Nightopia.

* * *

It was a gray, snowy day and Bellbridge High students were heading out of school. Winter holidays finally arrived, and kids were jubilantly jogging back to their houses.

"See you Raya!" Maria called back to her friend. Maria Taylor was a year 12 at BHS. She was heading over to the middle school where her brother attended. She trudged across the street through the slush and snow, walked up the path dodging several groups of friends, and approached the entrance of the school, where Will, and his friends sat around a bench.

"Hey, Maria," Jake, an American friend of Will greeted in a seductive manner, winking.

"Hello, Jake," she sighed.

"Hi Maria," Andrew, another friend greeted timidly.

"Hey, Andrew," the elder teen smiled kindly.

All of Will's other friends greeted her, and she smiled back at them. "Maria, may I go to Jake's place to hangout tonight? It's Friday, and it's not like I have to do homework," Will pleaded.

"Sure," she sighed. Will grinned, and stayed with his friends. Maria left, and walked back home alone.

After walking for a few minutes, Maria finally reached her house. She stepped up the stairs, pulled the house key out of her pocket, and opened up the front door. The girl entered her house, took her jacket and boots off, and scurried upstairs to her room where her computer sat. She opened up the laptop, and turned it on to check how her new articles and compositions were going on her blog. Nice compliments, and some small critiques appeared in her notifications. Maria let out a big yawn, releasing the tensions of a big day full of tests. She decided not to spend too long on her computer, and take a nap before her dad got home.

The teen set her laptop back on the nightstand, and curled up into her comforter. As she quickly drifted off; a scene of a childhood memory from when she was in primary school filled her mind:

Her mother was in her old bedroom, sitting in a chair, reading Maria a bedtime story, and the woman was laughing kindly, but slowly it turned into a cynical deep low snicker. The lady's eyes turned from blue to red, and the room faded to darkness.

All that Maria thought, was, "Oh no."

Mrs. Taylor, gradually transformed into three-or-so shadowy creatures, which darted at Maria. The teen's instincts kicked in, and she began sprinting away from the monsters as fast as she could. Just as the girl contemplated giving up to the quickly approaching threat, a bright, warm, blinding light evaporated the creature, and she escaped into the light.

As she dashed to the source of this positive, welcoming energy which came with the light, the glow began to fade into a vast plaza with an enormous, elegant castle. Around the plaza seemed to be the remains of other buildings which deteriorated over a long time.

"Am I still sleeping?" Maria asked herself, since she certainly felt like she was awake, and very conscious. She took a few steps and turned around to confirm she had complete, conscious control of her body. The girl looked up, and now saw a hazy, dark red fog covering some of the road. After pondering see what was up with the fog, the teen dismissed her curiosity, turned back around, and decided to explore the castle first.

The first thing Maria noticed when she entered the castle was the chandelier. Its light illuminated the walls, making them shimmer. Many hallways parted off the foyer, so Maria chose to keep heading straight, up some stairs. After reaching the top, she found two new hallways, one slightly tinted pink, the other slightly tinted indigo. She decided to head down the indigo tinted hallway, which curved around in varying directions, until she ended up at a dead end.

"Well, that was pointless," Maria thought to herself, but as she began to walk away, her hands emitted a white light, and the dead-end disappeared. The hallway faded away, and replacing it was the cramped cave with a moss-covered floor. There seemed to be only one way out, down a little slope and through a small hole in the rock with light pouring out. The teen cautiously slid down the path, and crawled through the tight hole, and had to squint as she pulled the rest of her body out of the hole due to the bright, moonlight? A bright full moon illuminated the white stone of the cliff she climbed out of. She slowly got up as her eyes adjusted, noticing a clear path that scaled the cliff from where she was. Maria slowly walked up the path around a bend, and up the cliff where she approached two double doors which nearly blended into the cliff face. "Hmm… Two double doors. This is very strange, and I don't know what's behind them, but where else is there to go?" Maria thought.

She grasped some indentations in the doors, and pulled them, neither one budging. "Guess I have to try harder," she shrugged. The girl once again grasped the indentations, and pulled back with her full body weight. As she pushed with her legs, the doors clicked, and she fell backwards as the doors slowly opened themselves. She crawled back as the doors threatened to scratch her legs, but she sighed as they just missed. She sat for a moment, looking down the path that lay behind the doors, which gradually darkened, but she could make out the beginning of a staircase which lay at the end.

Maria got back up, and began to walk through the doors. As she passed under the archway, the doors began closing behind her making her want to run back out, but she slowly exhaled and calmly breathed back in, releasing the fear and absorbing the bravery. She started humming her flute solo, and walked down the hall pacing herself to the beat of the song. The fifteen-year-old carefully walked up the steps, but nearly tripped from not lifting her foot high enough.

"Am I almost there, wherever 'there' is?!" Maria furrowed her eyebrows in determination and began walking faster, but soon, a bright aquamarine light flashed and Maria fell forward as the step she expected wasn't there and the stairs finally ended. When she fell, some sort of object fell off of a pedestal and rolled into her hand, nudging the side gently. Now in pain, she got up, and picked up the item which was now at her feet. The girl noticed the object looked like a baseball sized pearl which reflected the blue, aqua, and purple light radiating from the walls and a shallow pool of water residing behind the pedestal. Maria fell into a small trance as she rolled into around between her hand, but she was taken out of it when the orb began radiating heat.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She wondered.

Her questioned was answered as the orb gently slid out of her hands, and flew over to the pool. Wisps of blue and silver light began to burst out of the sphere spread through the air seemingly amorphously. After a few more moments, the light began to make a more defined shape, with a torso arms and legs. Next, when the limbs seemed to be at their correct lengths, three blobs broke off -one from the left arm, one from the right arm, and the last from the collarbone. The blobs then shifted and morphed into two hands, and the last into some sort of ram-horned head without hair. As the shape of the head finished, the finer details like the face and the clothing was molded. Finally, the creature's skin turned a dark gray as its horn remained white, except for the lining under its horn which alternated black and silver. It wore silver bandages around its torso and wrists, and covering its shoulders was a purple and blue vest. Maria observed the creature, and looked at all of its intricate details, and was startled as its eyes fluttered open revealing indigo irises within what looked like black holes.

"Hello," Maria greeted the creature. The creature didn't seem responsive as it stared at her barely blinking back. "Hello. Can you speak, or move? Or do you not understand English?" The dreamer asked the creature. The creature began to move its shoulders and arched back. It then curved its whole body backward, doing a slow back flip in the air, and then sped up, spinning up to the relatively low ceiling, and then fell back down to the water.

"Hello!" The creature finally greeted back with a smile and a wave. "I'm Twylight. Who are you?"

"I'm Maria," the girl answered nervously, walking up to the pedestal. "What are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm a nightmaren, if I remember correctly. I haven't actually used memory before since I'm kinda a new nightmaren, but I'm not." The nightmaren paused for a moment of contemplation, and then continued: "I am one of three parts of another nightmaren, I think- the nightmaren I was before was super powerful and mean, and my creator, Wize-something had to destroy it or something, and he split it into three new nightmarens creating me and some others, I think. I honestly don't know. That is some sort of vague memory I have built into me or something." The creature shrugged in ignorance. "What about you?"

"I'm a human from Bellbridge, England, Europe, Earth, I don't know if you'd know where I'm from since I don't think this is actually a real world." The nightmaren looked at the human in slight offense.

"Real?! This world is certainly real! I don't know if this Earth you talk about is real, but I'm certain this world is real." Maria looked at the nightmaren with doubt.

"Then where is 'this world'?" the teen asked.

"This is, I think, Nightopia, maybe Nightmare, or is it the World of Dreams? It is either Nightopia, Nightmare, or the World of Dreams, or some sort of combination."

Maria sighed in slight annoyance. "How is this world real? I fell asleep, and now I feel like I am still awake, but I'm in this strange world that defies all that I've learned about physics and science."

The creature worriedly cringed and pulled in its arms and legs. "I don't know. Please don't be angry with me. I barely have any experience with this world either. I only have memories which were embedded in me when I was created, letting me speak, move, and learn about this world."

Maria's motherly instinct kicked in when she saw the timid creature. "Then, maybe we can learn about this world together, and maybe find your siblings," she offered.

"Siblings?" Twylight asked.

"Your counterparts. You were all created by the same person, and you were all part of one being, so I'm guessing you are all like twins, or brothers and sisters," the girl explained.

"Hmm… siblings. New word I'll have to keep it for later," they said.

"Oh yeah, thinking of it, are you a boy or a girl?" Maria asked, but quickly realized she should have asked a different question.

"Boy? Girl?" The nightmaren tilted its head in confusion.

"Do you want 'she', 'he', or 'they' to be used when others refer to you?" Maria explained.

"I like the 'she' one and the 'they' one," they replied.

"Then I'll use 'she'," the teen smiled.

Suddenly, Maria felt a nudge against her shoulder, and heard someone saying, "Wake up Maria, time for dinner."

"I'm coming," Maria mumbled, but she didn't mumble it in the dream world, or World of Dreams, watchamacallit, but she mumbled in her normal body. "This is weird." She thought to herself, but then she heard Twylight reply, "What's weird? You fading?" Then, she fully returned to reality, and groggily got up from her nap, nearly falling as she got up from her bed.


	2. Chapter 2: Searching for some Siblings

Maria walked out of her room, and slowly trudged downstairs. The girl slowly turned the corner and saw her dad placing a bowl of spaghetti, a small pot of sauce, and broccoli on the table. Before walking into the kitchen, she went into the bathroom and washed her hands in cold water to wake herself up. As she walked out, she saw her dad sit down at the table and wait for her. She finally sat down, and her father began to serve her.

"You had quite a nap, I see." Her dad smiled as he put the noodles on her plate.

She replied with a muffled, "Mhmm."

"You didn't even wake up when I knocked to remind you dinner was soon," he chuckled scooping broccoli right next to her spaghetti.

"Yeah." She smiled unenthusiastically, poking at her pasta.

"Did you have some crazy dream?" he questioned.

"Yeah," the teenager grinned, pouring sauce onto her noodles.

"You know, your mother used to have crazy dreams as well, since she always mumbled something about 'night utopia' and saying 'night' a lot, but it was too bad she never talked to me about them, since in the end, she would have terrible nightmares." her dad laughed, then faded into sadness.

"Maybe…" Maria mumbled to herself, but was snapped out of her train of thought.

"So, Will's at Jake's?" he questioned.

"Yeah, he says he's gonna hang out there for the night," I replied.

"I don't know why Will idolizes that kid. He is a bit of a show-off and a doesn't seem to work hard," her dad sighed slight frustration.

"Well, Jake is very good at getting his way socially, and has talent," I explained, hoping her father would also see another perspective. "But he should work harder since talent doesn't last if you don't help it grow."

After finishing eating, Maria went back up to her room, quickly checked on her writing, and went back to bed, hoping to find Twylight again. As she dozed back off, she wasn't chased by those creatures again, and instead she appeared back at the plaza in front of the castle. Now getting a bit more used to feeling completely awake but asleep, she opened the doors to the foyer once more. She walked up the steps where she now decided to go down the pink hallway. As she reached the dead end of the pink hallway, her hands glowed blue, and the hall faded into another dead end, now made of tall, green hedge with ivy weaved throughout it.

" _Oh no, I'm terrible at mazes!"_ Maria worried as she turned around and tiptoed down the path hoping nothing would jump out and grab her legs. She was about to make a turn, but from above, she could hear a loud whoosh as the tops of the hedges what disturbed by some flying object. She looked up, and saw Twylight suddenly breaking in mid-air above her.

"Maria, there you are! Where did you go when you faded?" The nightmaren flew down to the ground to be able to talk with Maria better.

"Uh, I woke up. My dad called me down for dinner," the teen answered.

Twylight looked at Maria with confusion. "'Woke up'? 'Dad down for dinner'?"

"Yeah, I woke up," the girl confirmed, not knowing what else to say.

"What is 'woking up'?" she asked.

"Waking up, not woking up, is when I go back to the real world, or Earth where I normally am. My dad woke me up so I could go eat dinner, or have some food because us humans need food to stay alive," the human described.

"But what is 'dad'?" the dream creature asked again.

"My 'dad' is one of my parents who help create me. I have a mom and a dad who created me, but don't ask me about the process of making me," she explained, cringing in hope the dream creature wouldn't ask me more.

"Okay!" Twylight smiled in content. "Now, want to look around this place?"

"Sure!" Maria grinned back. Twylight reached for Maria's hand which the adolescent held out. As soon as their grips were firm, the nightmaren shot up into the air with the human trailing behind.

"Ah!" the girl screamed, trying to reach the dream creatures claws with her other hand.

"Are you okay? I could carry you differently," she offered.

"Yeah, that'd probably be better," the teen cringed hoping the creature wasn't offended by her distress.

Twylight flung Maria up, and caught her by the waist with one arm. "That better?"

"Yeah," she sighed.

Maria finally looked around at her surrounding. She saw a gibbous moon on one side of the sky with a few small stars, but on the other, she saw a golden sunrise with pink, orange, and red clouds lining the horizon.

" _Wow! This place is so beautiful!"_ Maria exclaimed silently with a gasped.

"Hey, Maria, do you see that thing in the middle of the hedges?" The nightmaren pointed to a large, circular meadow full of golden, red, pink, and orange flowers with some sort of grassy cobblestone path leading to the top of a hill with some sort of hedge sculpture.

"Yeah. We should check it out." the teen replied.

The two zoomed straight over to the meadow, gliding over the hedges. They then dived down after reaching the meadow, floating over the sweet aroma of the tulips and daisies. They finally stopped after reaching the center of the meadow where the sculpture of a creature looking almost identical to Twylight stood with a pearl similar to Twylight's in its wooden claws.

"Twylight, oh my goodness! I think we found one of your siblings!" The nightmaren's eyes grew in happiness as she carefully pulled the orb out of the claw. She brought down to Maria to look at, and the human rubbed a small smudge on the golden ball. The orb then lifted itself out of Twylight's claws, and flew over the flowers and began to spurt out golden wisps of light. The light quickly began to take shape, and go through a similar process as Twilight did, but much faster. After about ten seconds, the clothes took shape, and color filled the nightmaren: the skin turned pitch black, the lining under the horns alternated pink and black, its dress and shoes turned hot pink as well with red, gold, and orange accents. Along its arms, it wore golden bandages which shimmered in the rising sun. It finally opened its eyes revealing its golden blackhole eyes, but then furiously blinked in a sort of disbelief?

"Hello, I'm Nyght," the nightmaren greeted, reaching out to shake hands. "And who are you?"

"I'm Maria Taylor, and this is Twylight," the dreamer introduced.

Nyght seemed to freeze at the mention of Maria's name, but then apologized saying, "Sorry. You're just the spitting image of another dreamer I knew."

"Wait, how have you met other dreamers?" Twylight asked in confusion.

Nyght froze once more, looking at Twylight, first asking, "Are you another piece of Fryght?"

"Fryght?" Twylight questioned in confusion.

"The monster that we were split up from," Nyght elaborated.

"Oh, yeah. I didn't know it was named Fryght," she explained.

"Well to answer your question, I was awakened once a long time ago by a dreamer who I will call 'KT' for short," Nyght replied, seeming to momentarily reminisce. "She just so happened to come across my orb, and we both decided to explore Nightopia together."

"Just like Twylight and me!" Maria exclaimed cheerfully, though Nyght didn't seem to enjoy the enthusiasm. The teen noticed and asked, "Did something bad happen to that dreamer?"

The pink nightmaren paused, in calculation of how to respond, and replied, "Well, KT and I came upon a bad creature who caused nightmares, and she wanted to stop it from hurting dreams, so she decided to fight it and then…" Nyght's breath began to shudder violently.

"What happened? Was she okay?" Twylight asked worriedly.

"Well, she…failed. I tried to help her, but the creature trapped me and sent me back here as soon as he…" Nyght froze, and just gave a halfhearted smile to end the story.

Maria was about to ask for them to continue, but decided it wouldn't be best.

Twylight broke the stagnant silence, and asked, "Nyght, would you come with us to explore Nightopia?"

"Sure," they replied showing signs of hesitation.

"I'm sure we won't run into some big mean monster in our travels," Maria smiled.

"Yeah, and I'm sure after we find our last sibling, we'll be able to fight one if we did," the silver nightmaren grinned, grabbing Maria by the waist with one arm, and flying up.

"Okay," the pink nightmaren replied expressionlessly.

"Then let's get going," Maria grinned, but as soon as the three began flying to the entrance, a white little ball of a creature appeared in front of Maria. "What is that?" the girl wondered aloud.

"That is an awaker. They start to appear when a dreamer is naturally waking up, and if they attach themselves to you, you will wake up," Nyght explained.

"Oh, so I guess the adventuring should be put at hold," the dreamer restated.

"If you want," Nyght answered. "You could avoid them if you'd like, but it is your choice."

Twylight slowly flew backwards to help Maria avoid the awaker, but Maria motioned for the nightmaren to stop, and the teen carefully reached out for the creature, the dream world slowly fading out into the light shining onto her eyelids.


	3. Chapter 3:Snow, Sledding, Friends, & Fun

**A/N: Hello readers. It's been a while since I updated, since I've been experiencing a drought of inspiration, and whenever I did get inispiration, it was towards my Miraculous fic, The Rise of Hawkmoth Jr. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It isn't that long though...**

 **Chapter 3:**

Maria opened her eyes to the sunlight warming up her face. She sat in her bed for a short moment, but slowly got up after the heat of the blankets became too much for her. The girl slid off her bed and arched her back and raised her arms up in stretch. " _Wow that was really good sleep!"_ she thought, exhaling an airy yawn. She then went to check her computer once more, but didn't find any new notifications, so she decided to go downstairs and get some breakfast.

As she was about to leave her room, her phone(her dumb phone) buzzed. The teen walked back into the room, picked it up and checked it:

 **Abby S.: Morning Maria! Hope Im not waking u up but knowing u u probably have been up since 6 am even on the 1st Saturday of break. Want 2 go sledding today? I asked all of the others and Jamie and Raya are up for it. Just waiting on u Taylor Fiona and Tyler. Jake is bringing his friends too so Will will be there. I hope he doesnt bother us. Hes too much of a flirt and I swear he has no respect!**

Maria then quickly check her schedule on her phone, and replied:

 **Maria: Yeah I'll go! I surprisingly don't have anything scheduled today. When and where will we be meeting up?"**

The teen sent her message and walked back out her door. She walked down the steps, into the kitchen, and over to the pantry where she got out a box of cereal. After getting the milk, her phone buzzed again. As she poured the milk and sat down, she read the message:

 **Abby S.: Cool! Ur finally able 2 have real fun and not just be in writing class after writing class and lesson after lesson**

As Maria began eating, she slowly responded:

 **Maria: Hey! My classes are fun too! I just don't often go to parties and all of that stuff you do. What about the time and place?**

 **Abby S.: 11 gibbous hill park**

 **Maria: Thanks!**

After the girl finished eating, she put her bowl in the sink and and filled the bowl with water. She looked over at the clock and noticed it read 9:56. " _Wow, I woke up late!"_ she exclaimed internally.

She immediately ran back upstairs, and back into her room. She opened her closet, and searched for a warm sweater and leggings. She successfully found a red sweater with diagonal white stripes that could be interpreted as a candy cane pattern. She also found a particularly warm pair of leggings which would easily fit under snow pants.

At this point, she had about half an hour 'til she needed to head out, so she rushed into the bathroom, put on deodorant, brushed her teeth and so on, though decided to wait for a shower 'til after sledding since she'll be all sweaty and a mess. She then once again ran back down the stairs, grabbed her snow gear, and headed into the garage to search for her sleds which she hasn't used in years. She quickly jogged around the edges of the garage where she saw plenty of ancient flower pots and junk which still needs to be organized and thrown out.

After about ten minutes of searching she managed to find a small circular sled, a long plastic sled, and a toboggan. " _How am I going to bring this toboggan with me?"_ Maria worried. She tried picking the sled up, which she was able to do, but realized it wouldn't be convenient to carry it to the park which wasn't that far away, but trying carry two other sleds as well would surely be a workout. The teen decided she'll just bring the the plastic sleds since that would be easiest. She opened the garage and began dragging the sleds down her driveway, taking a right onto the sidewalk.

About one mile later, Maria trudged through the snow-covered field of Gibbous Hill Park. She walked past the swings and playground before reaching the bottom of the hill. Peaking over the top of the hill was Abby, Jake, Will, and all of the others. They were waving and seemed to be calling her but she couldn't quite hear them. She then began trudging up the hill on a well trodden path that was packed flat from all of the other sledders who climbed up the hill previously. As she climbed up the hill a little further, she could hear Will yelling, "Hurry up you slowpoke!"

She grinned and teased in response, "We'll see who the slowpoke is when I race you down the hill!" Maria began trudging up the hill faster, and after finally reaching the top of the hill, she set the sleds down, and paused to pant for a bit.

"Did you walk all the way here?!" Fiona gasped in awe; Fiona is a dark-skinned girl with caramel eyes, and naturally blonde hair. She moved to Bellbridge just before school started, but from what Maria's heard, she is quite the botanist when Spring comes. Her shy, curious nature is most prominent, given her silent fascination in anything nature related.

"Of course she did! She walks everywhere!" Jamie exclaimed; Jamie is a dark-skinned kid with black hair, and green eyes. Who knows how many sports she plays, but whenever there is a chance for competition, she takes it.

"That's very true," Raya confirmed. Raya is Maria's childhood best friend. She has pale skin, vibrant red hair, and foggy lilac eyes. Her biggest hobby is painting.

"Where's Tyler and Taylor?" Maria asked.

"Tyler has some sort of recital, and Taylor didn't respond," Abby answered. Abby is quite the actress and singer. She has blue hair and eyes, and is Jake's cheerful older sister.

"Come on, ladies. Let's quit the chit-chat. Will and I against Maria and Abby," Jake grinned slyly picking up one of Maria's sleds and a similar sled.

"Don't forget me!" Jamie exclaimed, grabbing two-person sleds and placing them in front of pairs. "Me and Raya, Fiona and Andrew, and Tom and Jack!"

"Sure," Will laughed.

The teens all set themselves up with the heavier person in the front and the lighter in the back. They all positioned their sleds just right in hopes not to run into each other, and then counted down, pushing off at zero. Tom and Jack took a lead after pushing off early as Fiona and Andrew struggled to get the sled moving. Will and Jake just began to surpass Maria and Abby, but Tom and Jack began taking an uncontrolled turn and crashed into the other boys. Jamie and Raya came up from behind Maria and Abby and zoomed by the two at almost double their speed. As all of the teens reached the bottom, Jamie and Raya came in 1st, Maria and Abby 2nd, Tom and Jack 3rd, Will and Jake 4th, and Fiona and Andrew last.

"Ha! I beat all of you!" Jamie jeered playfully.

"Yeah, but the older sister's beat the younger brothers, and that's what matters!" Abby teased, making a snowball, and throwing it at Jake and missing.

"Oh, you now want a fight, Abby!" Jake smirked maybe a bit too viciously, making a more compact snowball and chucking it square in her face.

"Ow!" she winced, falling backwards into the snow. "That actually hurt!"

Jake showed no sign of apology, but Maria and Will gave him a look of disappointment. He used to be intensely bullied over in America, and so whenever he gets a hint of someone making a slight insult, he retaliates violently. "Sorry, Abby," he sighed guiltily, walking over to her, and helped her up.

After wiping the snow from her glasses, Abby stated, "I don't know how you two can get along with each other so well. This happens almost everyday at my house."

The Taylors shrugged in response, and Raya interrupted the four, offering, "Maybe we should all just take a break and go to Full Moon Cafe for some coffee and hot chocolate."

The Sullivans agreed as well as the Taylors and the five other friends. Will, Abby, Fiona, Jack, and Raya dragged their sleds over to Abby's mini van, as the other half of the pairs climbed back up the hill to retrieve the rest of the sleds.

After packing all of the sleds back into Abby's car, Tom, Jack, Andrew, and Fiona were picked up by their parents leaving the two boys and four girls together, walking down to the cafe. A couple blocks later, the kids arrived at the cafe, stomping the excess snow off their boots. As they entered the restaurant, they were overcome with the aroma of coffee and cookies.

" _Wow, I don't know why I don't come here often,"_ Maria thought with a smile.

At the counter, a pink-haired girl scurried around trying to give her customers their orders, but when Raya entered, she exclaimed, "Raya, I need some help here! Lila and Reneé are supposed to be here, but they are apparently travelling for the holiday and left me here to do everything! There's an extra uniform in the back!"

"Of course, Claris," Raya agreed, dashing to the back room, looking back at Maria apologetically.

The rest of the group lined up behind all of the other customers, and gazed up at the menu. Their day menu was gladly in English, unlike their menus in the evening which were proudly in French. As Raya dashed back out in a work uniform, the rest of the party lined up to order.

"I'd like a medium hot cocoa," Maria told Claris.

"And same for me," Will added.

"Are you paying separately or together?" the woman asked.

"Together," Will replied.

"I'll have a caramel chai tea latte," Abby ordered.

"And I'll have a medium roasted coffee," Jake added.

"Together as well?" Claris asked, and they nodded in response.

After everyone, excluding Raya, ordered and paid, they took a seat at a long booth. As they sat down, Jake started talking about hockey and other winter sports with Will and Jamie, so Maria and Abby began talking about music, until they received texts from their parents asking each of them to return home for dinner.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you have any thoughts or comments, go ahead and give a review.**


	4. Chapter 4: New Encounters in Nightopia

Maria and Will were picked up by their dad as he came back from work. Before they left, they all agreed to have pizza for dinner, so they picked up pizza from a local pizzeria, and then they drove home.

"So, how was sledding?" Mr. Taylor asked.

"It was good," Maria replied. "But Abby and Jake bickered again," she sighed.

"Well, that's a shame," her father sighed in return.

"Yeah," Will sighed as well.

They finally returned home, and enjoyed their cheese pizza before doing their own things. Mr. Taylor cleaned up dinner as Maria went up to her room to nap.

" _Well, today felt really long,"_ thought to herself before dozing off.

Slowly, the familiar setting of the plaza returned, still blindingly bright, and still full of energy. As her eyes got used the white marble buildings and white cobblestone with specks of other bright crystals, she noticed as figure gliding slowly through the plaza near the end where something seemed to have been broken off.

Maria cautiously began approaching the figure, noticing its similarities to Nyght and Twylight, but it was slightly smaller, its horns were striped with bright and light purples, and their shape was more hooked instead of curled. As she got closer, the figure perk up, seeming to notice her, so she froze. The creature then suddenly turned around paused in what looked like awe, and then sped straight at her, causing her to fall backwards as it stopped right in front of her feet.

"Oh, sorry! I get quite excited when I see new Visitors!" the nightmaren like creature playful cringed, holding a hand out to the dreamer. Maria took the creature's hand, and got up.

"My name's NiGHTS. What's yours?" the purple character said somewhat out of the blue.

"I'm Maria. It's nice to meet you too NiGHTS," Maria replied back. " _I wonder if this is the last piece of Twylight and Nyght, but no. There wouldn't be a Nyght and a NiGHTS created at the same time, and their looks are quite different, so most likely not,"_ the girl thought to herself.

"So, is this your first time adventuring in the World of Dreams?" NiGHTS grinned in anticipation.

"No, I have adventured here twice before, and I looked around that castle," the teen explained, pointed the castle down the plaza.

The dream creature's expression drooped into a more serious expression as it stared off in an intent gaze.

"NiGHTS?" Maria furrowed her brow, lightly tapping the top of his hand, which startled the Nightmaren.

"Oh, sorry again," NiGHTS cringed apologetically. "Just be careful in there. It can be quite dangerous, and who knows what lurks in there now."

"What do you mean by now?" Maria questioned the dream creature's vagueness.

"Oh, don't listen to me!" the jester shook the serious mood away, bringing back a peppy mood with a smirk.

"So Maria, would you like me to show you to Nightopia?" NiGHTS smirked playfully

"Nightopia?" the writer inquired.

"A paradise-like world which is unique to you. Just grab my hand, and I'll fly us over to the Dream Gate!" he cheered.

"Okay?..." Maria replied nervously. As she went to grab NiGHTS' hand, a bright flash of white light enveloped her, and the next thing she saw was her feet, wait, no, NiGHTS' feet hovering above the cobblestone. "What?!" the girl exclaimed confusedly, looking at NiGHTS hands in front of her.

"Don't worry Maria. This is called dualizing. Both of us can control my body right now, so I can fly us over to the Dream Gate where we can explore your Nightopia," the nightmaren reassured.

"Okay," the dreamer cringed in anxious agreement.

NiGHTS began dashing over the edge of the plaza, heading into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. But only a few moments passed before Maria was able to see another floating island that was plaza-like, decorated with rocks and tree. NiGHTS finally skidded to a stop in the air right over a colorful cobblestone cul de sac, and Maria plummet a few feet down onto the ground, landing on all fours.

"So, this is Nightopia?" the dreamer raised her eyebrow unimpressed.

"No, of course not!" NiGHTS laughed. "It's through this door." The nightmaren waved his arms at an empty door frame, and the writer was even more unimpressed.

"There's no door there," the teen stated, looking between the doorframe and NiGHTS.

"Not yet. Just walk over here," NiGHTS instructed.

Maria slowly walked over to the doorless frame, and with a burst of colorful light, and door appear with a stained glass picture of a cloudy hill with lots of sparkling stars above it. She stepped up onto the platform, and slowly opened the door. Beams of blinding light caused her to squint as she squeezed through the door with NiGHTS following behind. The flutist gasped at the sight of a sky teeming with excitement from all different colored stars and planets. Out in front of her were rolling hills of flower covered clouds with trees every so often.

"So, I see you like the view," the jester grinned, looking out over the hills.

"I love it!" the girl chuckled.

NiGHTS maneuvered his way around the human and skated over the flowers to some sort of baby-like, fairy creatures playing in the blossoms.

"Maria, come over here!" the nightmaren called over.

The dreamer jogged through the flowers and then carefully approached the little people. The creatures made some happy sounding noises when she knelt down to greet them.

"They're called Nightopians," NiGHTS explained. "They reside here in Nightopia."

One Nightopian flew slowly over Maria's leg and gave a hug, looking back up at Maria with a smile.

"Aw, it seem that one likes you!" NiGHTS smiled and the Nightopian's sweet gesture.

Unexpectedly though, the eyes of the Nightopians grew in fear, and they all, made a short yell before fleeing from something that was behind Maria.

"Ah, NiGHTS, it looks like you found another friend," a malevolent voice came from behind her.

The two turned around to see a similar looking nightmaren to NiGHTS, except for the black and red horns, and the masquerade mask with feathers on either side.

"You're back?!" NiGHTS growled.

"Of course I'm back. Even Wizeman is back. I'm just here to quickly retrieve this Visitor's ideya, and then I'm off, and I won't bother you for a while," Reala grinned smugly.

"Never!" NiGHTS yelled, but as the purple jester began to charge at the red jester, two birds swooped in from above, and dragged NiGHTS away.

"NiGHTS!" the teenager called desperately.

"Well Visitor, I guess I can now formally introduce myself. My name is Reala," the nightmaren bowed. "And if you come here, I'll just quickly-"

"No Maria! Don't let him touch you!" NiGHTS screamed from a distance.

The writer began slowly backing away from the malevolent creature, Reala floating slowly closer to her. She then turned around and began to sprint, jumping over Nightopians and low hedges for many meters. Reala kept a close distance behind her, not getting any closer or further.

" _Please, someone help me!"_ Maria thought desperately. And with her thinking, a portal appeared in front of her. She ran right through the portal, and on the other side was the inside of the castle. She looked back, and the portal was gladly closed, so Reala couldn't get through.

She panted for a moment, and then look back up, noticing Twylight and Nyght speaking to each other.

"Good to see you are in one piece after that chase," Nyght smiled.

"I was so worried you were going to get hurt!" Twylight pouted sympathetically, hugging the girl.

"I'm fine," the human continued to pant. "I'm just worried about NiGHTS."

"NiGHTS?" the twins asked simultaneously.

"Yeah. A purple horned nightmaren with hooked horns, big blue eyes, a bright pink vest, and a big red gem right in the middle of his chest," Maria described.

"Well, I haven't met a nightmaren like that, but who knows. Maybe he was created after I was concealed," Nyght shrugged lightly.

"Well, I haven't met that nightmaren either, but was it nice?" Twylight asked timidly.

"Yeah, I guess, but very excitable. Though when Reala appeared…"

"Reala?" the two questioned in unison once again.

"He looks a lot like NiGHTS, other than being bulkier, having a red, black, and gray color scheme, and wearing a masquerade mask, but I didn't get good vibes from him, especially after he began chasing me," she explained.

"Then it's good we saved ya," Twylight smiled cheerfully.

"Yeah, thanks for that," the writer smiled back.

"You are welcome," Nyght replied. "But other details, did you hear any mentions of any other figures or nightmarens returning?" they questioned sternly.

"Uh, I don't know! I heard stuff about idiyos that Reala wanted, and some wise dude returning," the girl cringed nervously.

"It seems our creator has returned: Wizeman," Nyght sighed.

"Wizeman?" Maria and Twylight questioned anxiously.

"The bad creature KT and I fought decades ago. Maybe Wizeman used her ideya to create them after I proved to be a "dysfunctional" 1st level," the golden nightmaren sighed slightly, looking quite sad.

"You don't know that's true!" Twylight tried offering comfort to her sibling. "Maybe her spirit still wanders Nightopia."

"I doubt that," they sighed again.

"Well, I don't think moping will do anything right now, since another nightmaren is in danger, and who knows how I can save him," the human encouraged.

"I guess I agree," Nyght let out a last sigh.


	5. Chapter 5: Separation

A/N: Well, I've finally decided to begin updating again. I got some inspiration from furretts using some of my OCs in their story, so I'm gonna post ch. 6 immediately after I post this one, and ch. 7 is the process. Enjoy!

* * *

In a flash, the three walked through a portal to the Dream Gate.

"So, Nyght, Twylight…" Maria looked around, and her friends were gone. She swore they just were behind her less than a second ago.

"Hoo! Visitor!" she heard a voice pant. She looked over and saw an owl with clothes flapping its way over to her frantically. "Hoo, Visitor, have you seen a purple jester flying around here recently?"

"Uh, why do you ask?" she asked the bird confusedly.

"I saw Reala, an evil creature called a nightmaren, fly by. That means bad news. Without the use of a red ideya, NiGHTS may fail at protecting Nightopia, and be brought back to Nightmare to be killed," the feathered creature explained.

" _Nightmaren, evil creatures? Twylight and Nyght sure aren't evil creatures,"_ the human thought. "Uh, I did see NiGHTS," she spoke.

"What?! Where?!" the owl exclaimed.

"In my Nightopia. He brought me there, and then Reala captured NiGHTS and so I ran out of there."

"Well, that's troublesome. You must help NiGHTS. Climb the chain of the cage, and the dualize with him. It'll let him escape," the bird insisted.

"Okay?" Maria accepted unsurely, walking over to the door as the bird disappeared.

With the owl gone, Nyght came out of a portal with another human-looking person following.

"What? Nyght, who is this?" she questioned, gazing over the girl's thick silver hair, blue, silver, and purple dress with accents of yellow and pale blue, and her slightly tanned skin.

"It's me, Twylight!" the girl grinned.

"What?!" the writer exclaimed with surprise. "How are you a dreamer?"

"That's my power; I can turn into a real dreamer, other than the whole ideya thing, and I can use portals, which I may be able to go to the Waking World where you're from!" Twylight explained excitedly.

"Oh, wow!" Maria responded. "But, what is your human name going to be? I mean, Twylight is a very cool name, but for a human, it may be perceived to be suspicious

"Hmm," the nightmaren in disguise pondered. "What about Twilin?"

Maria thought about it and replied, "That sounds fine."

"So, you two go in, and I'll lead you through it using telepathy," the golden eyed nightmaren stated.

The two walked in and directly before them was NiGHTS trapped in a golden cage with three birds perched on top. NiGHTS was looking quite forlorn as he stared off into the distance.

"NiGHTS," Maria called up to the jester.

NiGHTS looked over curiously and seemed surprised to see Maria. "Hey, Maria!" they called down. "Would you be so kind and climb up this chain for me? Who is your friend?" they asked.

"I'm Twilin," Twylight responded. "I just recently met Maria here, in the Night Dimension, and decided to tag along."

"Nice to meet you Twilin. I'm NiGHTS," the jester bowed.

"Nice to meet you too," the Nightmaren in disguise greeted back. "By the way, would one of you be able to climb up this chain to help me? I'm a little stuck, and if I don't get out of here soon, something bad will happen."

Maria looked at the chain apparently holding the cage to the ground. It didn't look that bad, so she walked over to the cage, and grabbed onto the chain. It was a little harder than she thought in would be, but she was never the best in P.E..

Once she reached the top, she reached for the magical field that bound NiGHTS, and discovered that she could climb right through it. Once she got all the way in and stood up, NiGHTS held his hand out like giving a high-five, so Maria touched it. After a bright, blinding light, she looked down and saw NiGHTS' shoes.

"Alright Maria, I can now fly out of here, with your presence, but the thing is, we need to catch the birds, or else I'll be dragged back into one of the three cages," NiGHTS explained. Maria nodded in response, and they flew off to capture the keys from the birds.

Meanwhile, Twilin was wandering Maria's Nightopia. As she was wandering, she noticed all of the little creatures wandering Nightopia. She decided to approach one of them, but she noticed it was very hesitant. " _Nyght, what are these creatures?"_ she asked.

" _They are creatures known as nightopians. They reside here in Nightopia, and survive based on the existence of a human's Nightopias,"_ Nyght explained. " _They are probably quite hesitant of you since they can detect the presence of us nightmarens."_

" _Thanks Nyght,"_ Twilin replied. She then calmly got down on her knees and held her hand out to one of the nightopians. It looked back at her fearfully, so she told them, "I don't want to hurt you." It looked up at her with doubt, but it inched towards her slowly until it poked one of her fingers to test if she would attack. All of the nightopians seemed quite surprised when she remained still. "Really, I won't hurt you," the disguised nightmaren smiled. All of the Nightopians seemed joyful for a moment, but then they all made a fearful cry and began flying away.

"Ah, look, another one," a voice mocked behind her.

She turned around, and there floating above her was the other Nightmaren Maria described.

"Hello would be a nicer way of greeting," Twilin replied, completely unafraid of the black and red jester before her.

"Well, well, well, it looks like you're a brave one, or maybe you are simply foolish," the Nightmaren sneered, as he slowly floated down in front of her.

"Why should I be scared of you?" she asked.

"I could pluck your ideya out of you right now if I wanted to," he threatened, beginning to fly slowly around her.

"Ideya?" the "dreamer" asked, playing dumb.

"Oh, so you didn't get the talk from that annoying owl, or the traitor," Reala smirked.

Twilin shook her head, acting confused.

"Well then, this will be fun," he snickered, backing up, and looking at the ground around Twilin.

The hidden nightmaren looked down at her feet, and noticed a foggy red ring surrounding her. She heard a snap, and the inside of the ring became a dark void that she sank into.

Twilin was seriously thinking of revealing herself and flying out of the portal, but that may result in Wizeman suspecting that she and her siblings have awoken, and that would not be good.

Therefore, she sunk down into the dark void, showing only mere apprehension, not the panic a normal Visitor would show.

After a little while, Maria and NiGHTS had successfully unlocked all of the cages. They floated back down to the ground, and separated, Maria, nearly falling.

"That was fun!" Maria smiled. Flying felt quite freeing, but now, she had to get back to Twylight and Nyght.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for getting me out of there," NiGHTS replied.

"No problem," Maria responded, glancing around for her friend, and not seeing her at all.

"Is there something wrong, Maria?" the purple jester asked with concern.

"Um, I don't see my friend anywhere…"

"Well, I expect you won't see her for awhile," the red and black Nightmaren chuckled darkly.

"Reala! What did you do to Twilin?!" NiGHTS yelled at their sibling.

"Oh, I just sent her far, far away, maybe even to the dark realm," Reala grinned maliciously.

"Reala! Bring Maria's friend back right now!" NiGHTS took a fighting stance and formed his hands into fists.

Reala chuckled. "Is that a threat, NiGHTS? That was weak. Maybe another night we can spar, but for now, I'll just leave you agonizing over that poor Visitor."

Reala called for his birds, and flew away, leaving NiGHTS furious and Maria concerned.

Maria turned to NiGHTS and asked, "What happened to my friend?"

NiGHTS sighed and looked at Maria. "I'm sorry, but she was sent somewhere, and I have no idea where. She could have been sent to Nightmare for all we know."

"Nightmare?" Maria asked quizzically.

"Nightmare, the place where darkness rules and goodness is extinguished," NiGHTS explained gravely. "If your friend is there, there is basically a 100% guarantee that she has lost her ideya and is stuck there for ever."

Maria gasped and grew more concerned. Ideya, what was that? It must be very important since Reala mentioned taking hers, and it apparently helped NiGHTS get out of the cages, but is ideya something that all dream creatures had or was that just dreamers? She didn't have the time to ask as she heard the sound of her alarm going off, and she awoke.


	6. Chapter 6: Dark Realm Dungeon(Twylight)

A/N: Well, I was supposed to post this the same day as I posted ch. 6, but I got lazy. I hope you enjoy this chapter from Twylight's perspective.

* * *

As Twylight drifted away through the darkness, she found herself falling for a second, but landed on her back, hitting her head against something hard. Twylight immediately took in her surroundings and saw around her, a foyer of a castle very similar to the one she was found in, except the pale, white stone that made up Nightopia's castle was replaced by a dark stone which sucked all of the light and cheer out of the room. The only sources of light there were eerie candles emitting a spooky glow from a chandelier and torches hanging from the walls.

"This is a little creepy," Twilin spoke aloud to herself, or at least she thought before she heard a creature scuttle away down a hall.

She looked around and saw a set of big doors and assumed they led outside. In the other direction she saw two staircases winding their ways up to a balcony with a grand looking railing. Instead of deciding to leave immediately, Twylight's curiosity brought her attention to a door swinging ever so slightly in the corner of the room.

Cautiously, Twylight took slow steps, one after the other, until she reached the door, and sighed.

Through the door was a staircase going deep down into the darkness. She was aware that something dangerous may be lurking down at the end of the staircase, but she didn't mind.

She put her foot down on the first step, and a puff of dust spewed from under her foot, tempting her to sneeze. She then put her full weight on the step and it creaked loudly causing her to fully stop. She then decided she'd fly down so she doesn't have to deal with the dust and the creaking. She lifted off the ground and floated slowly down the steps.

As seconds became minutes, she sped up and began to moderately fall through the air above the steps. As she finally saw the bottom, she put her feet on the steps, and half stepped/floated down the steps, but as she neared the bottom, she began hearing screams and cries, but not any human-like screams.

She finally landed at the bottom where the screaming and crying was clearly coming from down the hall.

The screams, the cries, were they just calls from an evil nightmaren, or from creatures in pain? If they were in pain, could she help relieve the poor souls?

She decided she'd continue to at least see what the noise was all about before travelling back to Nightopia to meet up with Nyght. The hall in front of her was dark and dirty. The pale light of the torches lit up the dust creating a foggy effect as she walked down the hall. As she walked forward, she could pick out one cry that sounded quite close. She shifted closer to the wall to her right where in a few steps, she could see the wall stop, and turn into metal bars.

The cry she heard was mixed with sniffs and small "Bahs". As she further approached the bars, she saw a fluffy creature with yellow-ish fur, vibrant green and red horns, and a red nose on the other side of the bars. The creature barely noticed her. It looked up in slight interest, but then looked back at the ground, and backed into the furthest corner of the cell where it couldn't be seen.

"Poor thing," she cooed, hoping the nightmaren would come back into the light. "What's wrong? What happened?"

The creature went silent, and remained in that dark corner, hidden from her.

Twylight decided she'd continue down the hall to see what other creatures there were.

As Twylight approached the next cell, she saw another creature identical to the one before, and as she approached, the creature hid itself just like the one before.

The 1st level continued to walked down the hall, stopping at each cell before the nightmaren inside hid itself in the corner like the ones before. As she neared an intersection at the end of the hallway, she heard a voice, and she froze.

"No way! You're a visitor, aren't you?" Twilin looked around, trying to find where the voice came from, but it was difficult with all of the cries and the echoing.

She decided to just keep walking, but the voice called out again.

"You, Visitor, turn left at the end," the voice said.

"Uh, okay?" Twylight replied as she slowly reached the end and turned left. She looked around searching for the speaker, but as she finally turned the corner, she saw a door at the end of a small hallway with shining pink eyes peering through the bars straight at her.

"Now come down here," the mysterious voice commanded.

Twilin didn't even reply this time, and just walked down to the end of the hall. She passed plenty more creatures of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. By the time she reached the end of the hall, the screams and cries grew somewhat quieter.

"Are you the one talking to me?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," the voice replied.

"This place is so sad. What is it? Why is it here? Why are _you_ here?" Twilin asked with saddened curiosity.

The creature behind the door sighed. "This is the dungeon of the Dark Realm. It was made to lock up all of the failed and useless nightmarens. 'Why am I here' you ask? I'm a failed nightmaren, just like all of the others."

"Failed? You seem pretty smart. I don't see how you could be useless." Twylight looked at the nightmaren with confusion, still only being able to see it's eyes.

"Well, sure I'm not as useless as all of those failed 3rd levels, but I was another failed 1st level, and we are supposedly a threat to 'Wizeman's master plan'," they scoffed resentfully.

"And what is Wizeman's master plan?" the nightmaren in disguise asked.

"Well it seems you're quite a new Visitor if you haven't heard of Wizeman's plan," the nightmaren noted.

"Yeah. I only arrived here a few nights ago," she explained. "I just met NiGHTS before I came here, but then a nightmaren named Reala circled me, and I appeared here."

"Yikes!" they exclaimed comically. "At least you found your way down here instead of being caught up in the castle by a 2nd level or even Reala. You would have most certainly have gotten your ideya stolen, and if you have your ideya stolen, you will most likely be stuck here in a coma for eternity."

"But aren't there any guards down here that will catch me?" she worried.

"Nah. No one comes down here. All of us nightmaren are locked up in here and even if we tried to use our powers to get us out of here, it wouldn't work. _I've tried_."

Twilin thought to herself. If she gets herself caught in the cell, she may not be able to change her form or something, but by the sound of it, there are no nightmaren of her level/status locked up, so maybe she can still use some of her powers.

"But, isn't there a jailer? Who locks you up?" the 'dreamer' asked curiously.

"Oh, that's Reala, but he rarely comes down here. He's the only maren who can unlock the cages beside Wizeman summoning us," he explained.

"And why is that?" she asked.

"Since he's a 1st level, and 1st levels don't get locked up. That's why NiGHTS can't be imprisoned and Wizeman plans to replace his soul."

"But what about NiGHTS?" Twilin asked.

"What about NiGHTS?" they replied, seeming intrigued.

"Wouldn't NiGHTS be able to get you out, seeing that he is a 1st level as well," she asked, looking down at the stone on her necklace.

"Well yeah, theoretically, but NiGHTS probably doesn't even know that we are all stuck down here, and if he did, why would he unlock…"

Twylight looked at the door and noticed there wasn't a keyhole or anything, so she grabbed the handle, and her necklace began to glow and lift off her chest as she pulled the door open quite easily.

On the other side of the door was a red and gold nightmaren with a yellow gem plastered on the center of their chest. His eyes were wide open and jaw was dropped.

"Uh, hi my name is Twylight," she greeted as she transformed back and held her claw out to shake.

The nightmaren was frozen there in shock for a second or two, but soon gained back composure, and said, "Um, greetings. I'm Teim," as he shook her claw.

The nightmaren hesitantly exited the cell in shock, and Twylight closed the cell behind him.

"So...you're a 1st level," he began awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. Me and my sibling," she replied.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Wizeman creates more 1st levels successfully," he stated fearfully, keeping distance from her.

"Well, he hasn't exactly…" she laughed halfheartedly, shrugging.

"If you and your sibling were just created, he could make more and have a whole army of 1st levels, or worse!" Teim began to panic as began to fly back to the entrance.

"No, please. Teim…" Twylight called, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm not in league with Wizeman, and neither is my sibling."

Teim paused in the air. "You aren't," he stated reluctantly.

"I'm telling you the truth," Twylight begged for his trust.

In that moment, there was a slight creak of the door up the hall, and Teim froze in fear.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"That was the door. Reala might be coming!" he whispered frantically.

He began flying back to his door, and attempted to pull it open, but failed.

"Twylight, open this door! We have to hide!" he exclaimed.

Up the hall, they could hear muffled huff from Reala. "Where is that pest?"

"Come on! Quickly!" the 2nd level exclaimed again.

Twylight then poked the air, and a glowing portal grew from under her finger tip.

"Come, follow me!" Twylight waved her hand for Teim to follow, and Teim hesitantly obliged.

The two exited through the portal just as Reala turned the corner. Reala sniffed around quickly checking each of the cells as he went, but as he reached Teim's cell, he decided to peak in at the 2nd level but found nothing.

"Teim, you fool, show yourself," the 1st level called viciously, but to his fear, the prisoner was gone.


	7. Chapter 7: A Lazy, Strange Day

A/N: I didn't really re-check this before posting it, so tell me if I wrote something that sounded dumb. Thanks!

* * *

Maria had awoken to her alarm, though it was a Sunday. She groggily hit the snooze button on her alarm, and turned it off to avoid further annoyance. She laid there in bed thinking about last night's events, worrying about Twylight. She contemplated going back to sleep in order to help get her back, but she felt wide awake, even though she oh-so wanted to sleep in.

The blogger opened her laptop which was on her nightstand, and quickly checked her blog for any notifications before she got up. After that, she got up and went down to get breakfast. As she reached the kitchen, she was surprised to find her brother sitting at the table on his phone at seven in the morning, it still being dark outside.

"Good morning, Will," she greeted him as she passed him to get to the pantry to get cereal.

"'Morning, Maria," Will replied, turning his head a little in her direction, but keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen.

"Why are you up at this hour? Usually you sleep until ten," she chuckled, as she set a bowl and cereal on the table across from Will.

"Um, I had a nightmare," he muttered.

"A nightmare?" What happened in it?" she asked with concern.

"Uh, it's nothing," he replied, taking a quick glance up at his sister as she began pouring milk into her cereal.

"Oh come on! You've got to tell me!" she nagged, taking a scoop of her cereal. "You always tell me your nightmares."

"Yeah, 'cause you always force them out of me!" he complained.

"Well yeah, but you always feel better after you've told me, and I can give you advice," she reminded him.

"Fine," Will huffed. "I was chased by some monsters, and then I woke up." Maria knew that was a lie.

"Come on, Will! I know there's more than that!" she badgered. "If it's about mom, you can always tell me.'

"Well, it's sort of about mom, but sort of not," he explained. Maria waited for him to continue. "I had a strange dream, and I was in mom's perspective. In the beginning, mom met this golden demon-kind-of creature, and they became friends, but as the dream progressed, there more demon-like creatures came and attacked her. The golden one was trying to protect her, but this big, scary god dude came down and grabbed her. After that, all I remember was feeling hopeless, scared, and like I was dying. Then I woke up."

Will's eye were a little red. It was clear he was up for quite awhile. "The weird thing was about the dream, is that I feel like I recognized the scary god guy, like I've been in a similar place that mom was, but it was different for me," he explained.

"That is a little weird," Maria replied. "You should worry too much though. It was still only a dream, and dreams can't come to hurt you."

She was finished with her cereal, so she emptied her bowl and put it in the sink. She then walked over to Will who went back to playing a game on his phone. Maria peeked at the game and chuckled. "Isn't that i-pets?"

"Yeah, so what?" Will muttered.

"Oh, it's nothing," she sighed. "I just haven't seen anyone play that game in years."

Will continued to play his candy crush-like game, and she went back upstairs to her room.

Maria looked out the window of her bedroom, and decided that today would clearly be 'stay in your bedroom and only leave for food and the bathroom'-day. So, she grabbed her laptop which was fully charged, and began to write whatever came to her mind in an empty Word document.

After awhile, she became bored, and began to play mindless games to entertain herself, but as she was laying in her bed, about to drift into a nap, she heard an out-of-worldly and saw a bright light through her eyelids. She moaned as she squinted across her room, and the light finally dimmed. She remained in that position with full disbelief when she saw Twylight and some other nightmaren floating right beside her desk in a frazzled state.

"What?" she gawked at the two dream creatures.

"Where are we?" the unfamiliar red and gold nightmaren asked Twylight.

"Um, I guess somewhere weird in Maria's Nightopia I suppose," Twylight shrugged.

"Maria… That the Visitor that is looking at us weirdly from that strange chair?" the nightmaren asked.

"Uh, yeah," Twylight replied, giving a slight wave.

"Um, either I don't remember falling asleep, or you two just appeared in my bedroom," Maria stated with a yawn.

"Well, we couldn't have entered the Waking World. That is impossible. So, the answer is, you, Maria, have fallen asleep and just don't remember," the new nightmaren concluded.

"Uh, can you just wait a second as I check something?" Maria requested. "Stay put. Don't move."

Maria got up out of her bed, and went to her door. She slowly opened it expecting to see Nightopia on the other side, but she was genuinely puzzled when she opened the door to see the upstairs hallway of her house, _like, her actual house without any weird distortions you experience in dreams._ She looked back, and saw Twylight and the other nightmaren just hovering there in her bedroom and just shook her head, to make her stop imagining things.

Awhile ago, Maria had heard Will come back up the stairs to his bedroom, so she quietly knocked on the bedroom door, and called, "Will, are you in there?"

She heard a moan and some lazy footsteps before Will opened his door and asked, "What do you want."

Maria just stared at him like she had seen a ghost, and Will slowly extended his hand and poked her. "Maria, are you in there? I asked you…"

The writer shook her head, and replied, "Yeah. I just got lost in thought for a moment."

"So, what do you want?" Will repeated.

"Uh, nothing. I was just checking to see how you were," Maria responded with a shrug.

"I'm fine. Please don't bother me again," Will muttered as he closed his door in Maria's face.

Maria then walked a few steps back to her room, and opened the door to see Twylight laying in the air above her bed, chatting with the other nightmaren who was sitting in the air above her desk.

"Well, it seems you two have made it the Awake World, or whatever you call my world," the human informed them.

"How is that possible!" the other nightmaren exclaimed as Maria shushed him.

"I didn't really pay attention to where I made a portal to," Twylight confessed. "I guess I was just remembering the event with Maria running away from Reala, and I accidentally made a portal right to where Maria was at the moment."

"What were you doing, and where where you? The last I heard was that Reala might have sent you to a really bad place. What happened?!" Maria exclaimed loudly, and in return from the next room over, was Will yelling, "Maria? Can you please talk quieter with your friend? I'm trying to nap!"

Maria suddenly questioned if Will knew there were people, or well, creatures in her room, but she resolved by thinking her brother probably just thought she was talking with Raya or Abby over the phone.

"Uh, hey, could you two turn into dreamers?" she inquired quietly.

"Uh, sure," Twylight complied. They both looked at the other nightmaren, but he shrugged, indicating he couldn't transform.

"Here, try this." Twylight took off her necklace, and handed it over to Teim.

He looked at the necklace in awe, and looked back at Twylight with hesitation.

"This is your gem. Would using it hurt you?" he asked. Twilin shrugged.

The red and gold 2nd level tentatively clasped the necklace, and with a silver glow, he transformed into a gold and red haired boy with dark brown skin, a fancy red and gold victorian outfit, and glasses that somewhat hid his glowing, nightmarish eyes.

"Perfect!" Twilin grinned as Teim handed her back her necklace and she put it back on.

"So, what's your name, and how did you two find yourselves here?" Maria questioned as she sat back on her bed, and grabbed her computer out of instinct.

"Um, I'm Teim, and failed 1st level nightmaren. I was imprisoned in the Dark Realm dungeon when Twylight found me and freed me," he explained.

"Uh, after Reala circled me, I fell into a black hole that transported me to Nightmare, and I just happened to wander down to the dungeon where there were a lot of poor, suffering nightmarens, so after I talked with Teim, I freed him. After that, Reala came down to the dungeon looking for me, so I escaped through a portal with Teim, and now we are here," the innocent dream creature explained.

"Alright. Are you able to make it back? Nyght is probably worried about you, Twylight, seeing that you've been gone longer then I've been awake," the human explained.

"Oh that's not a problem. I can just travel right back to the moment when Twylight left, and this 'Nyght' won't be worried," Teim beamed proudly, finally having a chance to use his powers.

"Well, I guess that makes sense with your name being Time," Maria smiled as she glanced at Teim and then looked down at her open laptop.

"Well, I guess we'll be going. I would want to disturb your day," Twylight smiled back at Maria as she poked the air and a portal appeared.

The two disappeared through the portal, and Maria just sat there in her bed staring at where the portal had been, and thinking, " _Did that really just happen, or did I just hallucinate?"_

" _Maybe it's the new medicine I'm taking, or just the weather getting to me,"_ she decided as she looked back down at her computer and continued to play mindless games, check her social media, and write down nonsense that she'd end up deleting 30 minutes later.

The rest of the day was extremely lazy, as she didn't even get up to get lunch.

That night, she went to bed early after rewatching a movie she liked, and quickly dozed off, seeing that she didn't get to take that nap.


End file.
